Another state title within reach for Indians

J.S.Carras/The Record Hoosic Valley’s J.T. Sawyer connects for a double against Maple Hill during the first inning of the Section II Class C championship game at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy on May 29.

SCHAGHTICOKE >> For seven members of the Hoosic Valley baseball team, Saturday will be an opportunity to accomplish a feat most high school athletes could never dream of.

When the Indians face Seton Catholic in the Class C state semifinals at Conlon Field in Binghamton, those seven will be playing for a berth in their second state championship game of the school year.

Mac Anderson, Don Espey, Matt Espey, JT Sawyer, Jimmy Acker, Conway Gillespie and John Rooney captured their school’s first state championship in basketball in March, and are hoping to win Hoosic Valley’s first in baseball just three months later.

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“It’d be awesome if we could do it twice in one year,” Gillespie said.

The possibility of capturing state titles in consecutive seasons did not seem realistic until recently. Since defeating Maple Hill in the Section 2 finals, the Indians have shut out consecutive opponents in the regionals.

“For basketball we never thought past sectionals,” he added. “Then it happened, we just kept going,”

Hoosic Valley coach George Brooks feels the experience so many on his team gained through basketball has been invaluable this spring.

“That big game experience isn’t something you can practice,” Brooks said. “Either you have it, or you don’t. It’s been a good thing.”

“It definitely helps you out,” Anderson agreed. “It makes you not be as nervous the next time,”

Most of the two-sporters admitted to preferring baseball to basketball. They were not able to say which state championship would be sweeter, however. Rooney, an all-star pitcher and New York State Class C player of the year for basketball, admitted that baseball is his favorite sport, but nothing beats the electricity in a packed gymnasium.

“The atmosphere in basketball is different, you got a lot more people cheering you on,” he said.

Anderson feels winning a championship in baseball would be the tougher challenge.

“I think baseball is definitely harder to win a state championship in,” he said. “But, they’re both equally exciting,”

Sawyer agreed.

“Basketball you got the same team out there every time,” he added. “Baseball you have to throw different guys and they have different players that they’ll throw,”

Athletes often use tough losses for motivation, but winning can be just as inspiring. For Rooney, the jubilation of his basketball championship is something he has been looking to duplicate.

“It definitely helps” Rooney said. “We know what it feels like to lose from the past few years, then to know what it feels like to win a state championship for basketball. We want the same feeling for baseball as well.”

“I don’t want to know what it feels like to win a state championship” Espey added.

Hoosic Valley has won 20 games in each of the last three seasons. The recent success pairs with a basketball state championship has made winning a norm in Schaghticoke.

“They expect to win at this point,” Brooks said. “They haven’t experience losing, so for them, it’s the top or nothing,”

He added that the confidence of his basketball players has spread across the entire team.

“It’s been contagious,” Brooks said. “A lot of these guys that didn’t play hoop, they have that same attitude. They see it on these guys’ faces and its just a constant reminder of the focus and effort that it takes to be successful. It’s been a big thing that everybody’s bought into.”

As great an experience as winning a state championship was, Brooks said his guys never were the type to doubt themselves.

“Even going into basketball, these kids have always been very confident,” he said. “They expect to do well. They expect to win because they put in a lot of time and effort.”

Hoosic Valley’s game with Seton Catholic is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday. With a win, the Indians would play immediately for that state crown at 4 p.m. against the winner of Pierson and Bolivar-Richburg.

Regardless of Saturday’s outcome, history has been made. Hoosic Valley won its first Section 2 championship for baseball. The state championship on the hardwood was also a first for the school.